Senate Republicans block voting rights bill, dealing blow to Democrats' effort to overhaul election

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The year-long Democratic push for federal voting rights legislation neared a futile end Wednesday night, after Senate Republicans blocked an elections bill for the fifth time in six months and Democrats appeared unable to unite their caucus behind a plan to rewrite the Senate’s rules and pass it anyway. The final clash, which has been brewing since Democrats won congressional majorities a year ago as Republican legislatures in 19 states embarked on a campaign to roll back election access, began with an evening vote to close debate on a sprawling voting rights bill. That vote, at the Senate’s traditional 60-vote margin for legislation, failed on a 51-49 vote.

Democratic leaders now plan in the coming hours to execute a maneuver to change the rules and allow the filibuster to be broken with a simple majority vote. But Democrats, with a 50-50 majority secured by Vice President Harris’s tiebreaking vote, do not have the support to execute that plan. Two Democratic senators — Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — have indicated they will not support any attempt to weaken the 60-vote rule, defending it as a tool to protect minority party rights and promote bipartisanship in American democracy.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other top Democrats said they are determined to push forward with a floor confrontation regardless, even as it promised to expose bitter divisions inside their own party rather than amplify a GOP blockade that they have described as an existential threat to democracy.

“Shall American democracy in the 21st century be called a true heir to our Framers’ vision — a nation where the people choose their own leaders, forge their own destiny, and add to the great legacies of those who expanded the franchise before us?,” Schumer said Wednesday night. “Or shall we see American democracy backslide in our time, grow feeble in the jaws of its adversaries, and ultimately succumb to the cancer of voter suppression? The answer, in a large sense, could depend on how we move forward this evening.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-brace-for-likely-defeat-of-voting-rights-push-due-to-gop-filibuster/2022/01/19/2f9a734c-792d-11ec-bf97-6eac6f77fba2_story.html

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Full headline: Senate Republicans block voting rights bill, dealing blow to Democrats’ effort to overhaul election laws

Edit to note the 51 - 49 was procedural (so the bill can be brought up again at a later date) -

After a Day of Debate, Voting Rights Bill Is Blocked in the Senate

By Carl Hulse
Jan. 19, 2022Updated 9:16 p.m. ET

(snip)

The final vote was 51 to 49, with Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, voting with opponents in a maneuver aimed at allowing the measure to be reconsidered later.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/senate-voting-rights-filibuster.html

[Budi]

1. Its not over till every availible attempt has been met.

[underpants]

2. Fuck them.

That’s my post in this

[Shellback Squid]

3. have they voted?

[DonCoquixote]

4. still worth it

because if nothign else, it will show how craven they were, and how afraid of black or brown votes.

[dweller]

5. Who made it 51 ?

n/r



✌🏻

[Sogo]

6. My question, exactly....

...

[mchill]

7. I was wondering that too! Anyone?

[pazzyanne]

8. Hmmmm!

Do you suppose it could have been Joe Manchin?

[24601]

9. Sen Schumer switched his vote to no.

It's procedural and allows a motion to recommit.

[dweller]

10. Thanks

✌🏻

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Yes (took digging to confirm)

I will add that to the OP...

[pazzyanne]

13. Thank you!

[HUAJIAO]

15. Schumer...see below...

"The final vote was 51 to 49, with Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, voting with opponents in a maneuver aimed at allowing the measure to be reconsidered later."

[appmanga]

29. The VP (nm)

[PortTack]

12. Someone should ask manchin..or sinema how long does it take you to vote?

Would they be willing to drive possibly hours and then stand in for 6, 8, 10 hours to vote??!

Rigged system..bought and paid for by 2 of the worst!!

[brooklynite]

14. In case you couldn't do the math...Manchin and Sinema voted "yes"

[groundloop]

16. Which of course is meaningless with the damned filibuster in place.

[ChazII]

17. I did hear Sinema project her voice

with her yes vote.

[ColinC]

18. The question is how do you end debate without 60 votes?

Something is being said about waiting it out. What the heck does that even mean?

[BumRushDaShow]

20. They can "debate" for an unlimited amount of time

but often they get tired and someone might move for a "unanimous consent" to end the debate and if no one objects, they are done.

There is sometimes certain legislation that gets debated with specific debate rules associated with it - for example when doing reconciliation, where the number of hours of debate is limited (I think to 20 hours).

[ColinC]

21. It sounds like the majority needs to almost outfillibuster the gop

Will they basically bring it up as frequently as possible debating indefinitely until the minority gets tired and finally agrees to end it?

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Well there has been much discussion about stopping the idiotic "60 vote cloture" Rule

and actually forcing people to go right to a debate - a "talking debate". The way it is now, they can skip the debate by only having 41 Senators agree to doing that.

Interestingly enough, one of the "masters" of doing a "talking debate" was Robert Byrd. He would do his history of Hannibal or some other Roman history thing, in an empty chamber, and could on for hours with such stories.

The filibuster is basically like they are in "morning business" and can talk about anything.

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. So it was a cloture vote, not a vote on the rule change...

Sounds like Schumer backed out on going nuclear and forcing Manchin and Sinema to go on the record opposing voting rights.

…or perhaps the rule change vote will be tomorrow?

(I thought I heard Schumer say they would be voting Thursday, not today)

[BumRushDaShow]

22. There were 2 votes - the cloture and the Rules change

Unfortunately most of the M$M ended up "updating" their earlier stories to tack on the 2nd vote (I had planned to do a 2nd LBN OP on the 2nd vote but wasn't finding a separate article for it but got the breaking news for that 2nd vote) -

Democrats Fail to Change Filibuster Rules as Republicans Block Action on Voting Rights


Jan. 19, 2022
Carl Hulse
5 hours ago

By Carl Hulse

(snip)

Democrats also fell short of the votes needed to unilaterally change Senate rules to override the blockade and allow the voting rights measure to pass with just 51 votes rather than 60. All Republicans opposed changing the rules, as did two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

The effort to change the rules was defeated 52 to 48.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/senate-voting-rights-filibuster.html

[SunSeeker]

23. Manchin and Sinema sold out Democracy.

As did every single Republican.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. I know at Biden's presser, he repeatedly called out the GOP

asking "What are they 'for'??? " He also mentioned that there were 16 GOP members in the Senate who had told him privately that they were terrified of being primaried. Of course the media refuses to hold the GOP accountable for anything.

[SunSeeker]

27. Yup. nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. So the cloture vote gets the headlines, and the rule change is just an asterisk footnote.

Fucking media.

[FBaggins]

28. That was really a timing thing

Republicans had blocked the bill from receiving an up or down vote - by denying cloture (with all Democrats voting for cloture except Schumer so that he could reopen it).

The rule change vote came after that and failed by the expected margins. Note the "Democratic leaders now plan in the coming hours to execute a maneuver to change the rules and allow the filibuster to be broken with a simple majority vote" - it hadn't happened yet (and thus is ok to miss in the title)

If you click the link in the OP, the new title and lead-in are:

Manchin, Sinema join with GOP in rejecting attempt to change filibuster rules, effectively killing Democratic voting bill

The year-long Democratic push for federal voting rights legislation died in the Senate on Wednesday night, after Republicans blocked an elections bill for the fifth time in six months and Democrats failed to unite their caucus behind a plan to rewrite the Senate’s rules and pass it anyway.

The final clash, which has been brewing since Democrats won congressional majorities a year ago as Republican legislatures in 19 states embarked on a campaign to roll back election access, began with an evening vote to close debate on a sprawling voting rights bill. That vote, at the Senate’s traditional 60-vote margin for legislation, failed on party lines.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) then moved to reconsider the legislation to propose a rules change allowing for the bill’s advancement with a simple majority of 51 votes. The Senate rejected that maneuver 52 to 48, with two Democrats, Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), joining all 50 Republicans in opposition.

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. Revised headline gives credit/blame where it is deserved. Nt

[tonekat]

31. I watched GOP Senators shaking Sinema's hand after the vote

It was like watching a member of one's own family helping the burglars rob the house.